UNITED NATIONS, United States (CMC) – The United Nations (UN) Secretary General, Antonio Guterres, has welcomed the decision by two Caribbean Community (Caricom) countries that are part of a Standing Group of Partners to provide high-level strategic direction for any revamped force in Haiti.

Jamaica and The Bahamas are among the countries that are establishing the group that also includes the United States, Canada, El  Salvador, Guatemala and Kenya.

Stéphane Dujarric, the spokesperson for the secretary-general, told the UN daily briefing on Friday that the UN welcomes the decision to establish the group “to provide high-level strategic direction, oversight, and political decision-making for any revamped security force and look forward to working closely with that group.”

He said that the UN is also encouraged that the UN Security Council is poised to take further action to improve international support for security in Haiti in response to armed gangs operating in the French-speaking Caricom country.

“And I think we have been giving you a clear picture of the horrendous situation that those armed gangs have caused,” said Dujarric.

“We reiterate the secretary-general’s recommendation to strengthen the Multinational Security Support (MSS) mission through UN logistical and operational support funded by the UN peacekeeping budget, as well as his call for the implementation of the UN sanctions regime and decisive progress in Haiti’s political process,” Dujarric said.

On Thursday, Panama told the UN Security Council that not providing the US$908 million required for the Haiti humanitarian response plan for 2025  “is literally the difference between life and death”.

Panama, which holds the presidency of the UN Security Council for August, said through its representative, Eloy Alfaro de Alba, that every figure is a story that can still have a different outcome.

He said that the US$908 million Haiti humanitarian response plan for 2025 is only 19.5 per cent funded and that “not closing this gap is not just a technical statistical matter; it is literally the difference between life and death”.

Guterres, had earlier indicated that Haiti remains shamefully overlooked and woefully underfunded.

“Less than 10 per cent of the US$908 million required to support 3.9 million people this year has been received – making Haiti the least funded humanitarian appeal in the world,”  Guterres said.

Criminal gangs have been seeking to overthrow the provisional government in Haiti since the assassination of President Jovenel Moise on July 7, 2021.

The UN has said that the gangs have all but taken control of the capital, Port-au-Prince, resulting in the displacement of thousands of people, murders and kidnappings, as well as the rape of women and children.